Chapter 376 The Small Imperial Court is about to collapse
Zhao Yulin was very happy to hear this, thinking that it was good that Lao Cao also understood the truth. What he feared most was that he would whitewash the situation as a leader or an official at the level of the envoy, and let small matters drag into big bombs.
After the meeting, Lao Cao invited him to have tea and told him that his brother Youliang had sent a letter saying that the militia stationed on the western border of Jiangnan had contacted Youliang and wanted to open Hongzhou to welcome the Shenwei Army to station there.
Zhao Yulin said that Shunfengsi secretly reported: Lin'an mobilized many Jiangnan militias to enter Jiangxi, which was obviously to strengthen the defense. It is naturally a good thing that there are enlightened and patriotic generals who want to surrender to us. We must tell Youliang not to take it by force, and we must also guard against some of them pretending to surrender. At present, the Shenwei Army cannot kill them.
Lao Cao nodded and said he shared the same opinion.
Cao Youwan also reported to him the situation in Guangnan East Road. The common people were so poor that they had no clothes to wear, and there were starving people everywhere. However, the wealthy gentry and officials worked together to exploit the people.
They resolutely implemented the strategy of eliminating bandits and counter-tyrants, and distributed the gold, silver and grain that had been confiscated to the people for the New Year, so that the people of Guangnan did not starve.
One can imagine what the situation was like in the Liangzhe West Road. The people must have been living in dire straits.
Zhao Yulin felt that under this general environment, the people of Fujian Road and Jiangnan West Road would definitely want to move over when they saw that Guangnan was living a good life.
And those nobles and powerful families who abuse their power and do evil will become Zhao Bing's die-hard supporters after seeing our determination to punish the evildoers.
Lao Cao told him that he had sent separate messages to the two brothers Youwan and Youliang, asking them to take in anyone who came to seek refuge and to support and help those who revolted, and not to allow the pseudo-imperial court to kill innocent people.
Seeing that he had already made arrangements, Zhao Yulin said no more and suggested that he write a letter to Yu Jie and Meng Gong, clearly stating our principles and inviting them to join the New Song.
As for how they react, you don't have to worry about it.
Lao Cao said he would do it later.
He told Lao Cao that Shunfengsi found out that Toure's eldest son Mengge had led his troops back east, the Great Khan of the Grassland was about to die, and the Mongolian princes had entered the stage of competing for the Khan throne.
The enemy is fighting among themselves, so we can just prepare our troops and recover the lost territory.
It is also possible that the Mongolian princes intend to use the achievements of the southward march to establish the authority of the royal court. Therefore, this year will be a turbulent year no matter what, and he has to go to the north to guard against any accidents.
Old Cao knew all these situations. Two years ago, Zhao Yulin predicted that the grassland would not last long. Cao Youwen was skeptical, but now it has become a reality.
However, Lao Cao's expression immediately became unhappy, and he said that Zhao Yulin was going to leave him alone again.
He didn't like sitting in Chengdu and arguing with these civil servants, and still wanted to go to the battlefield.
But they both knew very well that one of him and Zhao Yulin had to stay behind to guard Chengdu. Otherwise , one could not imagine what kind of chaos would happen in the newly established court of the Song Dynasty.
At this time, Wang Rong, deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs, came in to report: Lin'an has sent an envoy, headed by Yang Daquan who had been here a few years ago.
Zhao Yulin felt extremely uncomfortable when he heard about this person. Back then, this guy was a talkative captain in Lin'an who came to Chengdu with a group of Shi's diehard followers to make trouble. Now, he has suddenly changed his status and become an ambassador visiting Chengdu.
Damn it, I don’t know what kind of trouble will come out next.
Lao Cao impatiently told them to go find Mr. Li and have the Ministry of Rites be responsible for the reception. Let's see what they want to say.
Seeing that Lao Cao had lost interest, he stood up and said goodbye and left.
When I got home, I saw Hu Lan had also arrived home early.
He asked what happened?
Skipping school again?
He heard from Ma Linger that Hu Lan studied for three days and slacked off for two days, and often went home early.
The little girl leaned against him and told him that she didn't like those things like "zhi", "hu", "ye", and "zh". Her teacher had taught her all of them and they were difficult and annoying to learn. Didn't she want to become a shrew soon?
Zhao Yulin was drinking tea when he spat out a big mouthful.
He asked who taught him, do you know what yellow-faced woman means?
Hu Lan laughed and said of course I knew, she was the kind of woman who was frowning all day long and just focused on giving birth and doing housework, and whose face would soon be full of wrinkles.
Oh, I really know that.
If studying is too hard, will it torture a beautiful girl into a yellow-faced woman?
Zhao Yulin told her that she should learn the way of governing the country from the Shenwei Army. In the future, when the Shenwei Army unified the grassland, he would let her go back to be the pacification envoy of the grassland.
Hulan was immediately surprised, she shook his arm and asked happily if it was true? Could she also be the Khan and the queen of the grassland?
Zhao Yulin said why not, she is a woman from the Toure family.
However, he still had to go to the academy to study hard and learn all the principles of governing a country.
Zhao Yulin knew that her biggest problem was that she had always divided people into different classes, and no matter how much she studied, it would be difficult to eradicate this problem. However, if she really wanted to govern the desert, there was no need to worry. Their identity as a golden family could help the Mongolians unite.
At this time, the girl's face became very ugly again, and she muttered that Zhao Yulin still despised her and was chasing her away. All his women were working in Chengdu, but he wanted to trick her into going back to be the Queen Khan, so she would not go.
Zhao Yulin was speechless and asked her what she was thinking about. She said she was reading a book. Then she took out a copy of "Historical Records" and leaned against the warm room to read.
After a while, Zhao Feiyan came back and the women went off work one by one.
Yangjin pulled her mother in to talk , and told her with a smile that their Gesanghua clothing store was doing a booming business, and that they had almost sold out all the stock on the first day of opening.
His mother said that she didn't go home for the New Year, so today was a good time for her to go to Yibin to visit her family and make some new products to sell.
His mother was well-known for her sewing skills, and Yangjin provided her with novel styles. The clothing store became a trend-setting store as soon as it opened. His mother quickly rented another store nearby and separated it into men's and women's clothing stores.
When the ladies and gentlemen from prominent families in Chengdu want to buy clothes, they always ask to go to Gesanghua to have a look.
Zhao Yulin knew that his mother missed her hometown, so he told Hu Lan that it would be a good opportunity to bring her along. The teachers at Cuiping Mountain taught in vernacular Chinese, so there was no need for any jargon, and it would be absolutely easy to learn.
Hu Lan still refused to do it and said angrily that he was just chasing people away.
Ma Linger pulled Hu Lan over with a smile and said, "Brother, you are not chasing anyone away. It is a blessing for a girl to have her mother-in-law accompany her back to the Zhao family. We haven't had the chance yet."
His mother immediately laughed and said that they were all daughters-in-law of the Zhao family, and she had never been partial to them.
Zhao Yulin knew that once the women started talking, they would have endless topics to talk about, so he immediately made an excuse to leave.
He came to the study and saw Zhao Feiyan writing quickly at her desk. He asked her what she was busy with.
The little woman stood up, stretched, and said that Lord Cao asked her to sort out the things from the Lin'an talks for everyone to see.
He said that he had already become a minister, so why should he be busying himself when someone else was taking care of things?
The woman pulled him to sit on a chair and said that the clerk was just making simple records, and everyone’s understanding was different, so how could they let it go completely?
Zhao Yulin pouted his lips, slapped her on the face and said: If you really want to be the future king, you will be much more diligent than her father.
The woman immediately got angry, stared at her with wide eyes and asked what she meant.
Who said I want to be the ruler?
Is my father so unbearable?
Zhao Yulin was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to respond.
He pretended to be pitiful and asked in a foolish manner how the conversation went.
Zhao Feiyan said that this was not a negotiation between countries at all. As soon as the Lin'an delegation arrived, they questioned us why we occupied their Guangnan without saying hello, and demanded that we withdraw our troops first and return the two routes of Guangnan and Jinghu to them.
If you don't want to pay it back, then you have to pay 20 million strings of cash in taxes for the four routes every year, and it must be in silver coins.
Damn, you have quite a big appetite.
He is still dreaming of inheriting the orthodoxy of the Song Dynasty court.
He said: Isn't there nothing to talk about?
Zhao Feiyan told him that Lord Li had been guarding the place the whole time and criticized Yang Daquan for being too rude. He refused to kneel when he saw the princess and asked for land and money without asking any questions. The new Song Dynasty refused to negotiate.
Zhao Yulin was very pleased and satisfied with Mr. Li's change of stance.
When it was time for dinner, Hu Lan ran to call them happily and told them that she had made up her mind and that she would go to Cuiping Mountain with her mother-in-law to be the leader of the children and discipline the children at home for him.
Zhao Yulin was puzzled. Why did Hu Lan change his mind all of a sudden?
He didn't know why Hu Lan changed so quickly. It was good that she was willing to go to Cuiping Mountain. The three of them came to the restaurant. Ma Ling'er and the others were already seated. The table was full of food and wine. Everyone had a big glass of Nv'erhong.
Her mother waved to Hu Lan and asked her to sit down next to her.
Ma Linger said with a smile that her mother-in-law would be back tomorrow, and they would also be out on inspection errands, so her brother had to accompany them to have a good meal.
Zhao Yulin said it was a must, and raised his glass to ask his mother to drink first. His mother drank it all up neatly amid the blessings of everyone.
Hu Lan said that she had to go back with her mother-in-law to take care of the baby and also had to study, so the workload was heavy, so everyone had to toast her.
The women laughed loudly and raised their glasses to toast her. The girl was so happy that she drank it all in one gulp.
Fairy Banban, the girl is so generous. She was really born on the prairie and has a natural ability to drink.
Zhao Yulin was a little amazed.
Next it was the turn of the Eight Immortals to cross the sea, each showing off their magical powers. In a short while, all of them had rosy pink faces from drinking.
Fortunately, his mother and Wu Yuqi were watching over him, otherwise he didn't know how many people he would have to carry back to his room.
After dawn, Zhao Yulin woke up and saw that he and Feiyan were the only ones left at home in the huge yard.
After breakfast, the two went to the government office, where all the officials were present. Lao Cao said that there were two teams in the delegation from Lin'an this time. On the surface, Yang Daquan was in charge of the team, and secretly there was someone in charge of the Yin Cult.
The deputy envoy Xie Lingyun who came with him first visited him last night, and then went to the residences of Lord Li and Lord Fan.
Mr. Li also smiled and nodded.
Mr. Fan told him that Prime Minister Shi of Lin'an felt that the great edifice was about to collapse and the small court was about to be destroyed, so he showed goodwill to us.
Shi Xiang was willing to help destroy Zhao Bing, and the two families became one.
Lao Cao said disdainfully that this person did not think about the time when he was talking about merging the two. If we did not take into account that we were both from the same ancestor of the Song Dynasty, we would have beaten him and sent him wandering on the sea. What was the point of merging the two?
